Ugandan security forces are on the trail of an ISIS-linked rebel group blamed for the killing of two foreign newlyweds celebrating their honeymoon, the country’s President, Yoweri Museveni, says.

David and Celia Barrow, who lived in Berkshire in Britain, were killed this week alongside their safari guide in an attack by suspected Islamist rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces at the Queen Elizabeth National Park in south-western Uganda.

Ugandan police said the trio’s vehicle was also set alight.

The Barlows’ local church warden said the news was “incomprehensible”.

“We wake today with a heavy heart, and the deepest sorrow to hear the devastating news of the death of Dave and Celia Barlow,” Richard Davies said.

“Words cannot express how to react to this dreadful news.”

Hampstead Norreys Parish Council described Mr Barlow, a British national, as an “exceptional chairman”.

“He was a pillar of the community, always prioritising their needs,” it said, as reported by the BBC.

Hampstead Norreys Cricket Club also paid tribute describing South African-born Mrs Barlow as “an amazing human who will be desperately missed”.

The ADF began as an uprising in Uganda but has been based in the Democratic Republic of Congo since the late 1990s.

“We have registered a cowardly terrorist attack on two foreign tourists and a Ugandan in Queen Elizabeth National Park. The three were killed, and their safari vehicle burnt,” police spokesman Fred Enanga said on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

Police a picture of a burning four-wheel-drive vehicle to their account.

A precise location for the attack has not been provided. But the national park’s western boundary is the shore of Lake Edward, which separates Uganda from DR Congo.

Tweet from @PoliceUg

Uganda Wildlife Authority spokesman Bashir Hangi said the attack took place on Tuesday night (local time).

Museveni also called the incident “cowardly”.

“These terrorists will pay with their own wretched lives,” he said.

“However, killing these wretched individuals will not bring back the lives of these wonderful friends of Uganda who had chosen our country for their honeymoon out of the 193 countries of the world.”

Britain’s Foreign Office has since warned citizens to avoid nonessential travel to Queen Elizabeth National Park.

In an updated travel advice on Wednesday, it further advised against trips to Semuliki National Park, also in western Uganda “and the area immediately south-west of Kasese”.

Rebels from ADF have previously carried out attacks in the area and across the border in DR Congo, where they have bases.

Uganda and DR Congo launched a joint ground and air operation against the ADF in December 2021 to eliminate them from eastern DR Congo.

Uganda says it has succeeded in killing more than 560 fighters and destroyed their camps.

Last week, ADF fighters killed at least one man and injured another when it ambushed a truck in western Uganda.

-with AAP